“You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.”
~ Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago and former White House Chief of Staff for President Obama
New York City is being pounded by Post-Tropical Cyclone (née Hurricane) Sandy. Tunnels are flooding. Power plants are exploding. Hospitals are being evacuated. And millions are in the dark. At least 10 people are dead, and the count will surely rise.
Yet the New York Times doesn’t have the decency to suspend their school girl crush on Barack Obama for just a few hours. Instead they take the time to swipe at the man they know is the real meanie in all of this destruction, Mitt Romney.
The Times writes, “Disaster coordination is one of the most vital functions of “big government,” which is why Mitt Romney wants to eliminate it.”
The Times writes. The Times lies.
The lie is based on a statement Governor Romney made in a primary debate. When asked about funding for FEMA, Governor Romney said:
Instead of thinking in the federal budget, what we should cut — we should ask ourselves the opposite question. What should we keep? We should take all of what we’re doing at the federal level and say, what are the things we’re doing that we don’t have to do? And those things we’ve got to stop doing, because we’re borrowing $1.6 trillion more this year than we’re taking in. We cannot…we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we’ll all be dead and gone before it’s paid off. It makes no sense at all.
So the left spins that as “Romney says disaster relief is immoral.”
Governor Romney’s campaign spokesman said:
Gov. Romney believes that states should be in charge of emergency management in responding to storms and other natural disasters in their jurisdictions. As the first responders, states are in the best position to aid affected individuals and communities, and to direct resources and assistance to where they are needed most. This includes help from the federal government and FEMA.
Who’s bull$***ing now, Mr. President?
What’s immoral is a federal government that refuses to take its hands out of our pockets and saddles us with mountains of debt for our children, and our children’s children.
But, let’s dig a little deeper. Who really wants to cut funding to FEMA?
The reality is that Obama’s sequestration proposal slashes funding to FEMA and disaster relief.
President Obama’s proposal for the upcoming budget sequester would cut nearly $900 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including disaster relief, food and shelter, and flood management at both the federal and state levels.
Obama’s proposed cuts to FEMA include the following :
- Flood Hazard Mapping and Risk Analysis Program – $8 million
- State and Local Emergency Programs (non-defense) – $183 million
- State and Local Emergency Programs (defense) – $5 million
- United States Fire Administration and Training – $4 million
- Salaries and Expenses (non-defense) – $75 million
- Salaries and Expenses (defense) – $7 million
- Disaster Relief – $580 million
- Emergency Food and Shelter – $10 million
- Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program – $3 million
- National Pre-disaster Mitigation Fund – $3 million
[H/T Breitbart]
An Office of Management and Budget report from September said regarding the President’s Sequestration proposal, “On the non defense side, sequestration would undermine investments vital to economic growth, threaten the safety and security of the American people, and cause severe harm to programs that benefit the middle-class, seniors, and children. … The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s ability to respond to incidents of terrorism and other catastrophic events would be undermined.”
President Obama did speak from the situation room about the storm. A room he could not seem to find very often after Benghazi. He did manage to give good advice for folks to listen to local and state officials.
Elsewhere, Governor Romney reached out to Governors, but the left had to snark that it was only Republican Governors. Give me a break. Had he called the Democrats, he’d again be accused of politicizing the storm. And I doubt they’d even take his call.
Equally showing class the “Progressive Change Campaign Committee” uses the storm as a chance to fundraise, but not for those affected by the hurricane, no instead they write, “The storm will hit as we’re making calls for Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Baldwin, and other top progressive candidates.”
In contrast:
Governor Romney issued this statement, “Ann and I are keeping the people in Hurricane Sandy’s path in our thoughts and prayers. I hope that if you can, you’ll reach out to your neighbors who may need help getting ready for the storm — especially your elderly neighbors. And if you can give of your resources or time, please consider supporting your local Red Cross organization — visit www.redcross.org to get involved.”
The Romney bus was also being used to provide support and donations for storm relief will be taken at upcoming rallies.
But the mainstream media won’t see any of that, or more correctly, won’t report on any of that. They’re too busy desperately trying to save the failed presidency of Barack Obama. So don’t expect anything other than glowing reports about how wonderfully he responded.
If, on the other hand, Barack Obama were Republican, we’d be watching a fund raising telethon for the people of New York while some semi-talented, overrated “star” proclaimed, “The President hates theater people.”
@mrfletcher | facebook.com/mrfletcher58 | Michael’s posts
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If you would like to help with disaster relief consider the Virginia Disaster Relief Fund or your local Red Cross. The actual storm, and even the election will be over very soon. But the recovery and the rebuilding will take months, if not years. Give when and what you can.
